Raffl on extension: "I always had a great feeling here"

"Ahhh, new skates," he said as he labored to get them off his feet. The 25-year-old Austrian blocked a shot in the waning moments of a 4-1 win Saturday and broke his old ones. Even with a comfortable lead, he used the back of his foot to block a shot.

The Flyers will get two more years of both the humor and grit of Raffl, who signed an extension Saturday after the win.

"I always had a great feeling here," said Raffl, proud owner of a two-year, $2.2 million extension. "The guys are real good. Fans are great. Hockey's so big in Philly. I love that. It's pretty cool."

Raffl has nine goals and 12 assists in 57 games this season, a lot of those points coming on the fourth line, where he's been playing center since Feb 3 in San Jose.

About two weeks ago, his agent called him and asked if he'd like to stay in Philadelphia. It was a no-brainer for the first-year player.

"It's nice," Raffl said. "I really like it here. I love it here. It's gonna be cool, I think.

"Don't get me wrong, it's kind of nice to know where you're gonna be next, so I'm really happy about it."

Even in limited ice time (Raffl averages 12:54 per game) the Austrian Olympian has quickly made an impact in his first season in North America. Last season, he was playing in the second-tier Swedish league.

"You can see him gaining confidence on the ice and he just keeps getting better and better," said Wayne Simmonds, who played with Raffl and Vinny Lecavalier in preseason. "I want to say every game, but it's more like every shift he gets on the ice. The more he gets comfortable, I think he's gonna be a good player in our league for a good time."

The Flyers are certainly comfortable with the player who's quickly become one of the more entertaining personalities in the locker room.

"He's the funniest guy," Simmonds said. "He's great in the locker room. Every single person likes him in here."

Carter assumes he'll get booed
Jeff Carter, in town playing against the Flyers for the first time since being traded in June 2011, assumes he will not be received well.

"It seems like everybody that goes back to play against an old team gets booed," Carter said. "It's just the way it is.

"It doesn't really bother me. You just go out and play the game."

Carter missed a chance to play against the team that drafted him the season after he was traded to Columbus, but missed the game with a broken foot.

Now 29, Carter has no regrets about how things went down.

"It's worked out pretty well for us," he said. "A Stanley Cup, playing in L.A., it's a pretty good set-up."

Emery to start
In a somewhat surprising move, Ray Emery will start against the Kings. He has a 2-0-1 record against L.A. in five career games with a 1.34 GAA and .955 save percentage.

Berube didn't really offer much on the decision other than to say it was Emery's turn. Steve Mason had started the last two games and has played 10 of the last 11.
Also of note, it looks like Tye McGinn will play right wing in Steve Downie's spot on Sean Couturier's line. Raffl, who had filled in on that role, remained at center of the fourth line during line rushes. Here's the expected lineups.

Quotable
Kings coach Darryl Sutter had a couple good one-liners when talking to the media after the L.A. morning skate. First he lauded Berube for the job he's done with the Flyers this year and said, "If he was a player, he'd be their captain."

Then, on the Flyers' depth, "If you have Vinny Lecavalier playing left wing, you're pretty deep down the middle."